Jessie Buckley Is British Vogue’s February 2026 Cover Star
At this point in awards season, I’ve usually watched all the major Oscar movie contenders. Still, there are always a few stragglers: I have yet to see Joachim Trier’s much-lauded Sentimental Value, starring the brilliant Norwegian actor Renate Reinsve, for example. And I’m surely the last auntie in the world not to have seen KPop Demon Hunters… Thanks to my three-year-old goddaughter, however, I am very familiar with “Golden”, the K-pop hit from the film’s soundtrack that’s tipped for best original song.
Given that the Bafta Awards will happen right in the middle of London Fashion Week next month, doing my homework on my must-watch list just got considerably more challenging. Then again, scurrying between the shows and the red carpet has its upsides. At Vogue and GQ’s annual Fashion and Film Party, it’s always a thrill to see designers letting their hair down alongside Hollywood legends and ingenues. Last year’s cohost, Mikey Madison, was the adorable busy-tailed newbie in the room. Wearing a golden minidress and Tiffany jewels, she arrived to the party having won the award for best actress; a year earlier, none of us, least of all Madison, would have imagined she would also go on to scoop the Oscar for her leading role in Sean Baker’s Anora. It’s delightful surprises like these – the breakout stars who emerge seemingly out of nowhere – that give awards season its fairy-tale moments.
As far as the next big thing goes, personally I’m hedging my bets on local talent. It’s why I’m especially excited to introduce the new crop of British and Irish actors featured in this issue. Many of them, such as 28-year-old Mia Mckenna-Bruce, are already making a name for themselves – her turn in the 2023 coming-of-age flick How to Have Sex totally blew me away, so I couldn’t have been more thrilled when I heard that she’s been cast as Maureen Starkey, Ringo Starr’s first wife, in Sam Mendes’s highly anticipated Beatles biopic. Consider the portfolio your next-gen Hollywood cheat sheet.
Also in the issue, majorly talented thespians who need no introduction: Lesley Manville, Aidan Turner and Monica Barbaro, the fabulous trio entangled in director Marianne Elliott’s new staging of Christopher Hampton’s Les Liaisons Dangereuses at the National Theatre in March. The show is undoubtedly one of the top theatre picks for the spring.
As the frontrunner of this year’s race for best actress, our cover star, Jessie Buckley, is quite frankly in a class of her own. With Hamnet now in cinemas, her utterly stirring portrayal of Shakespeare’s wife, Agnes, will rip your heart out. As Vogue’s Hayley Maitland writes in her terrific profile of the unassuming star, “Her journey from rural Ireland to this year’s Oscars could be a film in itself.” Shot by photographer Jack Davison on the windswept coastline near her home in Norfolk, the images of Buckley are nothing short of cinematic and capture the epic mood of her unstoppable rise.